Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Monarch Butterflies

The monarchs migrate through Abilene twice a year. I have already seen several this year.

My mom, Dana Brinkman, took all of these pictures a few years ago. It is incredible to see a kaleidoscope, a group of butterflies, on their migration.

We planted some milkweed in our backyard this spring for butterflies. A few weeks ago we noticed we had a caterpillar. Our caterpillar ate two of our milkweed plants and then prepared his chrysalis.

All of this lead me to make this a teaching moment for my kiddos. We talked a lot about butterflies and did a few crafts.

Coffee Filter Monarchs

I loved making coffee filter butterflies as a kid!

1. Color your coffee filter with markers

2. Fold it up and dip it in a cup of water.

3. Quickly remove the coffee filter and lay it out to dry.

4. After the filter is completely dry, you can add the monarch markings if you desire.

5. Add glitter to a paper clip to represent the body of the butterfly and let dry.

6. When everything is dry you can assemble the butterfly by bunching the middle of the filter and clipping it with paper clip.

7. Add pipe cleaner to make two antennas.

Sequencing Activity

I then used my butterfly to do an easy sequencing activity. I made paper clips to represent the 4 stages of the butterfly, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly.

This would be a great activity for older children. You could have them place the clips in the correct sequence.

Butterfly Life Cycle

I used various foods to depict a butterfly lifecycle. I chose smarties to represent eggs but mini marshmellows would work too. I put them on a spinach leaf for fun. I used a gummy worm for the caterpillar stage, dried okra for the chrysalis and a cracker to represent the butterfly stage. This allowed me to talk to my kids about the butterfly life cycle all while they enjoyed a yummy snack. Pair this activity with the book Journey of a Butterfly by Scrace, and you will be all set!